Empowered Funds LLC Grows Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 245,334 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,915 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $23,179,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 276.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,685,230 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $285,790,000 after acquiring an additional 2,705,767 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Fortinet by 3,155.6% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,237,244 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $95,948,000 after purchasing an additional 1,199,241 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Fortinet by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,281,279 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,115,663,000 after purchasing an additional 766,135 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its stake in Fortinet by 98.9% during the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,457,858 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $113,057,000 after purchasing an additional 724,887 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in Fortinet by 27.6% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,584,528 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $200,172,000 after purchasing an additional 558,807 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTNT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. HSBC raised shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $83.00 to $111.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. KeyCorp raised shares of Fortinet from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $112.00 target price (up from $105.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.43.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 22,916 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.93, for a total transaction of $2,244,163.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,983,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,796,972,076.19. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William H. Neukom purchased 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $98.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,967.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 150,245 shares in the company, valued at $14,799,132.50. The trade was a 0.24 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 67,860 shares of company stock valued at $6,469,056. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $107.66 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $82.52 billion, a PE ratio of 47.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.01. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.57 and a 52-week high of $110.53.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 463.85%. Equities research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Fortinet

Fortinet, Inc provides cybersecurity and convergence of networking and security solutions worldwide. It offers secure networking solutions focus on the convergence of networking and security; network firewall solutions that consist of FortiGate data centers, hyperscale, and distributed firewalls, as well as encrypted applications; wireless LAN solutions; and secure connectivity solutions, including FortiSwitch secure ethernet switches, FortiAP wireless local area network access points, FortiExtender 5G connectivity gateways, and other products.